Newspaper Salience and Majority Members’ Perceptions of the Prevalence of Ethno-Racial Minority Discrimination in the Netherlands

Abstract

This study hypothesizes that the salience of ethno-racial discrimination and racism in the newspapers ethno-racial majority members read is related to their perceptions of the prevalence of ethno-racial minority discrimination in the Netherlands. To investigate this relationship, we match a content analysis of daily Dutch newspapers with information on individual exposure to those newspapers. We find that the relationship between newspaper exposure and Dutch majority members’ perceptions of the prevalence of ethno-racial minority discrimination is dependent on their attitudes toward ethno-racial minority groups. For individuals with positive or neutral attitudes, being exposed to a newspaper that more frequently covers ethnic discrimination and racism is related to perceiving this type of discrimination as more prevalent in the Netherlands. By contrast, this relationship is negative for those with stronger negative interethnic attitudes. This study improves our hitherto limited understanding of what shapes majority members’ perceptions of minority discrimination. It also adds to the agenda-setting literature by studying the role of individuals’ exposure to specific newspapers, their content, and examining how agenda-setting effects depend on individuals’ socio-political attitudes.